stunted...

is the perfect word to sum up our garden this year.

we've got a disappointing crop on our hands, that's for sure. don't know why, either. the weather has been extreme (both cold and hot) but i don't think that's the culprit. we've missed a few watering sessions (babies have a way of making that happen) but nothing is dying. it's just that nothing is growing. we did plant a bit late in the season, i guess (lucy decided to start making her arrival the very day that i bought the plants, so they didn't get into the ground until 2 weeks later). now that i think of it, it's probably a combination of all three of the things listed above. at any rate, it's a real bummer. especially since we used the nice, rich dirt from our compost bin when we planted. i thought for sure we we guaranteed a good crop.


here's a peek:

one of our many volunteer pumpkin plants... slow growth to say the least

these little guys just will not turn red... fried green tomatoes, anyone?

eggplant plants that have grown pretty bushy, but have yet to sport a single flower

basil & cilantro... the cilantro has already gone to seed, while the basil simply refuses to grow

we've got 3 different kinds of peppers, too. none have done much of anything. while it's kind of an annoyance to be watering plants that don't produce (especially since we're in a drought), the bountiful gardens of our families have given us plenty... zucchini, tomatoes and peppers, mostly, with a stray radish here and there. plus, on the fruit side of things we've had lemons, plums and peaches and apricots. apples will be coming in the fall. so despite our personal um, failure, there's been no shortage of homegrown, organic food.

still.

the one major upset is the pumpkins. if you've read a few posts back, you know i've got my heart set on donating around 20-30 to an inner city school... this is now a 2-year old dream of mine. at this rate though, fulfilling it doesn't look likely. i've only got about 5 pumpkins on 3 plants to speak of, and they're still golf-ball sized. the chickens got to the 4th plant, which of course happened to be one of the most promising ones. i did throw some organic fertilizer on the others last week, to try and push them along. we'll see if that helps.